This is a short post about a 4 day tiki tour of our own on the South Island.
We flew from Queenstown to Nelson on 3/5 and rented a car to drive over to the West Coast town of Hokitika. We had been there a few times and always enjoyed this quiet, funky place (cloudy or sunny).
We found a spot which backed to the beach which was delightful. π
We had to stop and see Joe at Hokitika Sandwich. There was a Colorado connection there but he was a Kiwi who came back to where it all started. π₯ͺ
Good time for kites behind our place. πͺ
The Hokitika Museum was closed for 10 years while they raised money to reinforce the building for earthquakes. We were happy to finally check it out. π
Wikipedia: Pounamu is a term for several types of hard and durable stone found in the South Island of New Zealand, the most predominant of which is nephrite jade. They are highly valued in New Zealand, and regarded as taonga (cultural treasures) by MΔori. Carvings made from pounamu play an important role in MΔori culture.
History could be so disappointing ...
... and sometimes good things happened! π
Beautiful pieces of natural greenstone from a private collection. πͺ¨
Clouds didn't keep us away. πͺΎ
We saw a movie (The Bride!) by ourselves and wow, it was a wild ride and deserved the exclamation point. π
We drove over to our next stop, the tiny town of Moana on Lake Brunner. π
Steve said he had never seen railroad tracks being used as roof supports. π€
The wood fired hot tub was a nice way to end the day. π₯
We drove back to Nelson and stayed in the Stoke area for the night. π
The Nelson Council building was still winning the award for ugliest building in New Zealand. π€¦ββοΈ
Steve found Isel Park near our hotel. This was settled in the 1840s and the owner took great care in planting several different tree specimens and many had survived.π³
According to the Isel Park Tree Walk, the Canary Island Pine was planted in 1850 and was the tallest in the park and maybe one of the tallest in New Zealand.
Steve found a gooseberry pie. π₯§
Blaze was very helpful while we packed up the car to go 'over the hill' to Golden Bay. πΊ
We had heard many stories of the (sometimes) scary drive up Takaka Hill so were not sure what to expect. The views were great ...
... and the road did have many switchbacks.
The view from the top looking back towards Tasman Bay was the best. πΈ
